Interviews

The Design of Jade Empire

These endings change depending on the followers plots during the game, the player's ending, and their own personal quirks and follies. For example, it really doesn't matter what you do in the game, Black Whirlwind will never become less stupid or violent, whereas other, saner, followers have endings that change drastically depending on the choices made during the game.

GameSpy: What did you use for inspiration when writing the storyline and dialogue for the game?

Kevin Martens: Obviously we were heavily influenced by martial arts cinema and some of my favorite movies are Fist of Legend, Hero, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Musa, and Dragon Inn.

We also loved the three classic Chinese Novels: Three Kingdoms, and especially Outlaws of the Marsh. Contemporary novels like Barry Hugheart's Bridge of Birds and Louis Cha's The Deer and the Cauldron are really good. Some great Asian comics like Heaven Sword Dragon Sabre or Lone Wolf and Cubs are must reads.

As far as dialogue goes, we had veterans from the Baldur's Gate series, Neverwinter Nights, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic on the team and Jade Empire dialogue is a cool mix of our continually refined BioWare dialogue style and a distinct Eastern feel.

Wow, sounds like they've got some major talent working on the game. That's it for our Q&A with Jade Empire's designers, but be sure to check out the rest of our coverage!